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The Seven Years’ War began in 1754 in the upper Ohio River Valley in what is now western Pennsylvania. British and French regular forces, colonial militiamen, and Native American warriors engaged in combat from that time until 1763, even though Britain and France did not formally declare war on each other until 1756. Before the conflict ended, it had expanded to engulf much of Europe, as well as parts of Africa, Asia, South America, and islands in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific; literally dozens of competing military forces participated. At the end of the war,...

The Seven Years’ War began in 1754 in the upper Ohio River Valley in what is now western Pennsylvania. British and French regular forces, colonial militiamen, and Native American warriors engaged in combat from that time until 1763, even though Britain and France did not formally declare war on each other until 1756. Before the conflict ended, it had expanded to engulf much of Europe, as well as parts of Africa, Asia, South America, and islands in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific; literally dozens of competing military forces participated. At the end of the war, Spanish Florida and French Canada were annexed to the British Empire. Britain also became the indisputable leading European imperial power in India. There was no consensus on how Britain should govern its newly expanded empire, and several controversies erupted over issues related to imperial governance. The arguments escalated into the imperial crisis that preceded the American Revolution. Despite the war’s global reach, North America has received more attention from scholars than the other theaters of combat because of the long-term implications of the conflict on that continent for the future of the British Empire and the United States.